Aurora's First Road Trip

I am going to start off by saying - I know that I am about 9 months behind on this post, but lets be honest, since this trip, I have moved from the apartment into a duplex, started back to work, moved to a new state, and I have a growing little girl.

A few weeks after having Aurora, we packed up the car and headed back to the midwest. We made this trip for several reasons. Jad’s friend was getting married, we were photographing my cousins wedding, and to see family during my maternity leave.

Our first stop in the midwest was to see Jad’s family in Rochester, MN and celebrate his friends wedding. Out of respect for the couple, I did not take any video of wedding but let me tell you, we have a party animal on our hands! My parents came up to watch her during the ceremony, but she enjoyed the first dance and the last dance at the reception (although she was asleep for the last song, I mean she was less than a month old what do you expect).

For the next week or so, we spent time with Jad’s family. Aurora saw her first Elk, along with multiple other animals, at Oxbow Park in Byron, MN. Again, when I say she saw, I mean she was present. She did sleep a lot more back then. We were able to see Jad’s Godchild play baseball and visit a childhood favorite for Jad - Lark Toys in Kellogg, MN.

Now, if you know Jad and I, you know we love mini golf. Over the past 10 years that we have been together, I have lost maybe one game so Jad was excited to be able to play me at a place he grew up playing. Well, it was a different game for sure since I had Aurora strapped to my chest….but I still beat him!

Our last event in Rochester was Aurora’s first concert - Smash Mouth. Starting her young going to concerts and listening to the music I grew up with is a must. With this being an outside concert, we made it into a picnic. It was nice to sit outside with people and listen to live music.

From Rochester, we headed down to southern Iowa to spend some time with my family. On our way, we stopped to visit Jad’s grandma and grandpa’s grave, as well as both my grandparents graves. We wanted to introduce Aurora to her great grandparents.

Besides another trip up to Marshall, MN to photograph my cousins wedding, our trip to Iowa was more on the relaxing side, I mean my parents live in a cabin on a lake all you want to do there is relax.

Aurora had a lot of firsts at the lake. First swim (or float), first boat ride, first golf cart ride, and first kayak ride are among some of them. You know as I write this, all I think is ‘of course she had a lot of firsts, she is only a month old!’ She did enjoy sleeping by the lake while mom and dad where floating in the water. It was at the lake that she was able to finally meet her Uncle Duncan, aka Unky Dunky.

Just like with Jad’s family, we were able to take Aurora to a place I went all the time as a kid - Mission Beach Resort in Merrifield, MN. We spent most of the time fishing, while Aurora slept under the passenger seat of the boat. We caught a lot of bass, crappies, and even a few northerns. One of the best parts of spending time at Mission is listening to the Loons. One of my favorite sounds.

After a month in the Midwest, we started our journey back home. On the way, we decided to make a few stops to enjoy the trip. Our first stop, or stops, was along the Enchanted Highway in North Dakota. There are some of the largest scrap metal sculptures that are meant to reflect the history and values of the people living in North Dakota. From there, we drove through Theodore Roosevelt National Park where we saw buffalo and wild horses.

One of the random places we visited, that we did not plan or know of before we got there, was the middle of nowhere. Yes, you read the right. Glasgow, MT is ‘The Middle of Nowhere’. If you map out our trip, we drove through the northeastern part of Montana and there is not much out there.

For our last couple nights, we decided to spend it in one of our favorite cities - Missoula, MT. Now every time we visit Missoula, it is in the winter months, so we had to visit a favorite of ours, The National Bison Range. We were finally able to drive up the mountain, and we are glad we did! We saw a bear cub walking up the mountain, and of course, we saw some bison. For dinner, we picked up food from my favorite restaurant, Zoo Thai. I am not sure what it is about this place, but they have the best fried rice!

After over a month away, we arrived back at home, unpacked and started our life as a family of 4 - dog included. It was an amazing trip and one that we will share with Aurora as she grows up. Being able to spend time with family and friends after 2 years due to COVID and moving away was something we both needed, but being able to introduce Aurora to parts these parts of our life was priceless. I hope the video below helps capture some of those precious moments we spent with our daughter on her the first road trip adventure.